Counterterrorism operations, particularly against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib (AQIM), dominated the news in Mauritania in 2010. A diplomatic row between Mauritania and Mali erupted in February when the latter country released four members of AQIM in an apparent exchange for a French hostage. In the same month, Mauritanian troops engaged in armed combat with an AQIM-led convoy transporting cannabis and cocaine near the Malian frontier. Survivors of the skirmish were arrested and later charged with drug dealing and supporting terrorist activities. On May 25 three members of AQIM were sentenced to death for the 2007 killing of four French tourists.

The United States launched a joint military training exercise, Operation Flintlock, on May 3. It was part of a wider program of counterterrorism being undertaken in the Sahara region. In July French troops joined Mauritanian soldiers in a raid on an AQIM base in northern Mali. The raid failed to free French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was executed later that month. On August 25 Mauritanian troops killed a would-be suicide bomber attempting to ram his explosive-laden truck into army barracks in the southeastern town of Néma. After Mauritanian planes attacked a convoy reputed to be carrying AQIM militants on September 20, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed Leminé, head of the country’s ruling party, called for a holy war against terrorists.

A significant sociocultural event was the fatwa (religious edict) banning female circumcision, signed on January 12 by a group of 34 Islamic leaders. Campaigners against the practice, which affected some 70% of the female population, nonetheless worried that traditional culture would outweigh the religious opinion.

Algeria and Mauritania temporarily suspended diplomatic relations with Mali in February 2010 after the Malian government released four convicted members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib (AQIM). The men were to have faced trial in Algeria and Mauritania following the completion of their sentences in Mali. AQIM had threatened to kill French hostage Pierre Camatte if the men were not freed, but...